CVE-2001-0944
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedDDE in mIRC allows local users to launch applications under another user's account via a DDE message that executes a command, which may be executed by the other user's process.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidencemIRC contains a vulnerability in its DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) handling that allows a local unprivileged user to send specially crafted DDE messages which execute arbitrary commands in the context of another user's mIRC process. If targeted at an administrator's session, this enables local privilege escalation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Detect if mIRC is installedSearch for mirc.exe in typical installation directories such as C:\Program Files\mIRC and C:\Program Files (x86)\mIRC, or use the system search feature to locate the executable.Affected if mIRC executable is found on the system
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Identify running mIRC processesOpen Task Manager or use command 'tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq mirc.exe"' to list any currently running mIRC processes.Affected if Any mIRC process is running under any user account
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Check if DDE server is enabled in mIRCExamine mIRC configuration files (typically mirc.ini in the mIRC directory) for DDE-related settings such as 'dde=1' or '[dde]' section entries, or check mIRC options dialog for DDE server enablement.Affected if DDE server functionality is enabled in the mIRC configuration
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Verify DDE server is listeningUse system tools such as 'netstat -an' or third-party utilities to check if port 3060 or DDE-related ports are in LISTENING state, which indicates mIRC DDE server is active.Affected if A DDE server service associated with mIRC is listening for connections
The system is affected if mIRC is installed, DDE server functionality is enabled, and mIRC processes are running, as this allows an unprivileged local user to send crafted DDE messages for privilege escalation.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to a patched version of mIRC that properly validates DDE requests; if upgrade is not possible, restrict physical/local access to trusted users only and ensure mIRC is not run with elevated privileges.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2001-0944 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2001-0944 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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